A Tale of Two Birthdays
by Now More So
Summary: One 13 year old girl dreams of the perfect birthday. Thats it though. she dreams. Her family doesnt believe in celebrating birthdays. Read what kind of days her birthdays are becuase they're not pretty


A tale of two birthdays

My eyes shot open as the first rays of sunlight filtered softly through my bedroom blinds. My alarm clock showed 5:30. I didn't care.  
>Singing at the top of my lungs, i danced across the landing into the bathroom to do my teeth and have a wash before I bounced down the stairs to find my parents and siblings dutifully sitting beside a huge pile of presents and cards with grins stretching across their faces,<br>"Happy birthday sweetheart," my mother cooed in a voice i would've hated on any day but today. I beamed. Today was MY day, the day I got the right kind of attention. For once.  
>"Thanks guys!" I said, looking around at my family, "What are you doing up this early anyways?"<br>"We couldn't miss your special day now could we?" My father chuckled in his deep, throaty voice,  
>"Definitely not," I joked, turning to look at the enormous pile of presents on the coffee table,<br>"Ours first sis!" said my youngest siblings, the twins. they were three years old and were normally a complete nightmare but not today. Today they were all smiles as they clutched at my arms and tried to make me open their present first,  
>"Ok, ok," I laughed, grabbing their gift and tearing off the wrapping. It was a IPod Touch. It was obvious the twins hadn't bought it but I gave them both a big hug anyway. They laughed and clapped their pudgy little hands in delight.<br>My other presents included a Playstation 3 from my parents and a new widescreen HD TV for my bedroom from my brother, something I'd never been allowed before. I also got about two hundred pound in cash from my various Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents and cousins.  
>All in all, not a bad birthday haul.<br>It continued in school. My friends brought me an Mp3 and a new mobile. They werent overly expensive but who cares? I needed new ones. I was just glad they didn't buy me make up and jewellry again. I hated the fact that everyone bought me that, just because I was a girl.  
>I got my own special announcement in assembly from my head of year and even the school bully Keisha Jackson, who REALLY didn't like me, left me alone for once. I was treated like something special, all day.<br>I invited my friends around for a birthday dinner after school and they all showed up this time, unlike last year, when none of them did. We played loads of cheesy party games and dranks so much Cola we were all literally bouncing off the walls. Even the twins got in on the fun, treating everyone to a three year olds version of Sumo Wrestling.  
>I went to bed that night, a very happy 13 year old girl.<br>The second my eyes closed was the exact second I ACTUALLY woke up on the morning of my birthday.  
>I rolled over and groaned. I could remember every detail of that dream and it wasn't going to help me get through this day at all.<br>_That's how a birthday is supposed to be,_ I thought to myself, knowing full well it wasn't how my birthday was going to go.  
>Taking a deep breath, and aginst my better judgement, hoping a miracle really could happen, I went downstairs for breakfast.<br>True enough, I was almost completely ignored by my father who merely grunted from behind his newspaper to show he knew I was there. My mother did wish me happy birthday but she said it through a heavy frown and pursed lips so it was hard to take her seriously. My brother was more interested in his bacon than me and the twins were desperately looking for a spatula or something they could load their eggs onto so they could fling them at me.  
>Guess I better explain. My family are normally great, with the exception of the twins who I think were just born monters. Birthdays, however, are days people were better off without, in their opinion,<br>"Why celebrate getting older?" was their arguement. And I had to admit I could see where they were coming from.  
>Not all of my family shared my parents philosphies so I did end up with some gifts and money but they mostly clothes and other cheap-to-post presents.<br>Nothing I actually wanted to have then. I sighed to myself. Every year I knew my birthday was going to turn out like this but I couldnt stop myself being disappointed all the same.  
>With a heavy heart and an even heavier schoolbag on my shoulders I said goodbye to my family and headed to school.<br>I decided to take some of my birthday money and treat myself to a box of Maltesers on the way to school. I was in love with Maltesers but I didn't often get to eat them. My mother was really strict when it came to sweets and chocolate and things like that.  
>One thing I did forget to factor in was Keisha Jackson. She didn't live far from me and she happened to live between my house and the shops. So I had to risk meeting her and getting robbed.<br>Stupid risk to take.  
>With a sigh I turned my back to the shops and just headed for school.<br>School was a nightmare. I failed a Maths test so I was kept behind at lucnhtime by my maths teacher to resit it. Then I happened to run into Keisha behind the giant bins round the back of school, smoking. She knocked me around a little as a warning to keep my mouth shut. As if it was needed. And lastly I completely forgot there were tryouts for the winter play on. I wanted to perform in the winter play all year and now I had missed tryouts.  
>Cursing my bad luck I stalked home.<br>No-one was home when I got there. I didnt have my own key, as my father didn't trust me with one, so I couldn't let myself in. Then it started raining.  
><em>Great,<em> I grumbled to myself, _Thriteen years worth of rubbish birthdays this one tops the lot. Got nothing I wanted, beaten up, put in detention, missed tryouts for the stupid play and now I'm locked out of my own home, whilst it's pouring down. Can this day get any worse?  
><em>Luckily I wasn't out in the rain all that long. My mother pulled up from picking the twins up from school about five minutes after I got home. Unfortunately five minutes was long enough for me to get drenched to the bone.  
>After I got inside and dried off, I decided to give this day up as a bad job. Maybe my parents were right and birthdays really were nothing to get worked up about.<br>The rest of my afternoon was uneventful. My friends were out of town so there was no party, even if I had been allowed to have one.  
>I ate chinese for dinner and played hide and seek with the twins for an hour. I played for an hour because I couldn't find them. They turned out to be hiding in the garden shed, which was FULL of spiders. I couldn't go in. I was petrified of spiders. It amsued them to no end when I tentatively poked my head through the door and recoiled, screaming at the first sight of a spider.<br>After the hide and seek game I got ready for bed. I figured the sooner this day was over the sooner things could go back to normal.  
>As I lay in bed I thought to myself:<br>_What I wouldn't give to have a birthday like in my dream... Isn't worth giving._

A/N:  
>N'awww poor poor girl who I couldnt be bothered to name...<br>Anyways this is in commemeration of Chloe's 'birthday'  
>This is my present because i forgot to buy you something...<br>Love ya :D  
>Aaron <p>


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